Falling Leaves

It's very autumnal this morning here in Wiltshire, so what better to do than try out my new Autumn Blueprint stamps.  I have been meaning to use them all week as there are lots of lovely autumn themed challenges around at the moment. 

I've made a little wall hanging that fits the bill for Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge 24, over at Studio L3, which is to use the Alcohol Ink resist technique found on page 59 of Tim's book, Simon Says Stamp and Show Leaf-spiration, and The Artistic Stamper challenge for October which is The Natural World.

The canvas is 6''x4'' and painted with titian buff, terracotta and a eggy yellow acrylic paint all blendedto darkest at the edges. There are some little patches of Antique Bronze Crackle Paint and these and the edges are inked with Gathered Twigs DI. The leaf blueprints are then stamped very lightly in Gathered Twig on the canvas.   Next I coloured some card with Aged Mahogany DI and lightly stamped the leaf blueprints on this with copper paint.

The main leaf is made following the instructions on page 59 of the Compendium of Curiosities 2. 

Next I got busy with some Kraft Glassine and my Alcohol Inks and made lots of little leaves using the Autumn Gatherings strip die, and sprayed them with a little Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls.  The moth is stamped using Rusty Hinge DI  on Stampboard.

To finish off I have used some slightly rusty wire to make a rustic looking hanger, and just added a few bits of Ideology.

Vintage Sparkle

I think the time of year has come that I can get my Christmas stamps out and not feel it's too soon.  Every year I think I will make all my cards, but somehow never get around to doing it, but at least I have now made one for this year, and because I have got a little stash of Tattered Pinecone roses that I made earlier this year I thought I would use some of them in making a shabby, vintage themed card.

Never one to need much excuse to get out my glitter, I was happy to see that the challenge this week over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is Love of Sparkle, so I have made a very sparkly vintage Noel cut from Grunge paper and combined this with some roses and foliage. The die cut Noel is coloured with Aged Mahogany Distress Ink before applying some multi medium and Martha Stewart White Gold glitter. The edges of the roses are also coloured with some Gathered Twigs and Aged Mahogany DI

Grungy Hearts

The theme over at Hel's Sunday Stamper this week is to use masks and/or stencils.  I always seem to get splodgy results with masks, so decided to use just a stencil, and a really basic one at that, the small hearts template from Crafters Workshop. 

I have used a 6'' x 12'' canvas, red, green and black PanPastels, tissue paper, some Kraft card that I have cut a mini tag out of, two Tim Holtz stamps, some Peeled Paint and Walnut Stain Distress Inks, black Stazon, and some modelling paste.

After covering the canvas with scrunched up tissue I used the stencil to make my three modelling paste hearts, never very good at icing cakes I didn't try to smooth the paste out too much, and left a slightly rough texture. 

Next the hard bit, letting the modelling paste dry.  So while that was happening I watched  the latest Inspector Montalbano episode on BBC iPlayer. I love the novels by Andrea Camilleri, and seeing that fabulous Sicilian scenery and sunshine was just right on a very wet and windy morning.  As the paste still wasn't dry I continued the Sicilian theme by making some Caponata to go with fish for dinner tonight. I'm sure Salvo would approve as what he eats is just as much part of the novels as the crimes he solves.

Eventually dry I then used PanPastels to colour my hearts and canvas, and was very bad and sprayed the fixative indoors,  I think it made the cats feel a bit funny, because they both laid down long enough for me to take a photo. So although it's a complete digression here are my two lovely fluffy Ragdolls.

Next was the mini tag cut out of Kraft cardstock and stamped with Peeled Paint DI  and Tim's flourish stamp, and a little bit of the long word strip also by Tim. The tag is grunged up with some Walnut Stain DI.

To finish off I swiped over the tissue with the Peeled Paint inkpad, added the twine and little bows, and distressed the edges of the canvas with more Walnut Stain DI

Have a lovely Sunday, even if it is raining.

Painty Experiments

I have been following an online class from Donna Downey this year called Canvas Create, where we get to paint a new canvas each month, trying out new techniques. I have to admit that some of my efforts have not really been fit for public view, but the August project was one I absolutely loved, because it uses the style of one of my favourite painters, Flora Bowley. Her work is just amazing.
So inspired by Donna's take on Flora's style here is the canvas that I have created, using my growing collection of Golden Fluid and Heavy Bodied Acrylics. These are the best paints I have ever used, and so worth the money.

I love Donna's videos and the wonderful technical terms she uses like drippage and gloppage (not sure if that's the right spelling but you get my drift I'm sure). And I had a ball with the drippage on this one, using my paints, Liquitex Acrylic Inks and a water spray bottle, plus a towel to mop up puddles, and apart from the small details it is pretty much all finger painting.  However, it is very important to ignore the phone when doing this or your telephone will be covered in a very interesting and completely abstract design.

 I've got a feeling that I should have stopped a bit before I did, but it's my first attempt and all part of the learning process. The size of my canvas is 18'' x 24'', and it's the biggest thing I've ever done, but I loved all the finger painting, and freedom that using a larger canvas brings, so I couldn't resist the best bargain of the year in the local home bargain store, where they have got some whopping 36'' x 48''canvases for sale at £1.99. I think the girl on the counter thought I'd gone mad as I struggled with five of these at the till.

Time is Flying

I seem to have had a real flurry of tag making activity this morning, and how appropriate that a little package containing some Ranger Foil Tape arrived in the post yesterday. No excuse not to make Tim's September tag.
I had a nice sticky time applying the tape to a tag and making little faux rivets. Then I discovered that my Black Alcohol Ink has run out, never mind Espresso and Denim seemed a fairly good substitution. I used the alarm clock Movers and Shapers die and cut it out of Grunge paper, and then painted with black and gold acrylic paint, sanded and inked with Walnut Stain DI to give a distressed look.

The saying is a PaperArtsy stamp that I have had for ages, I coloured the paper with Antique Linen DI and distressed the edges with Walnut Stain DI. The clock face is from a Tim paper stack, but I have nearly used it all and can't remember which one it is, and the other paper elements are from the Graphic 45 Steampunk collection. I kind of like the Art-Deco style flowers against the industrial background of the tag.

Autumnal Colours

Autumn was definitely in the air this morning, with a dense mist in the valley and the top of Salisbury Plain peeping through in the distance. I love this time of year, so it's a perfect excuse to get out those lovely autumn colours of Distress Ink.
The Compendium Of Curiosities Challenge this week over at Studio L3 (where Linda has made a beautiful autumn themed card) is to make something using  the technique found on page 44 of Mr Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2, I can say Enameled Stamping, but to find out what to do you need the book.
My entry is a simple tag.

The frame is from the Tattered Elements set, and as you can see it's slightly off centre on my tag. This was not intentional, but I think it's worked out OK. The butterflies are stamped in Coffee Archival Ink, and then I've used Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks to colour my tag.
To finish off I' have rummaged around in my box of stash and used some Ideology , tissue tape, Salvage Stickers, and a little book plate.

A Light Bulb Moment

Not really, but who knows, I may get one one day.

Using my new, most favourite ever colour combination of Distress Inks, namely Peacock Feathers and Frayed Burlap I have made a Steampunk themed tag for this weeks Sunday Stamper challenge hosted by the lovely Hels over at Ink on My Fingers.  Hels has used some fantastic looking Crafty-Embelies bits and bobs on her canvas, they look really great and one lucky person will win a £10 gift voucher to spend in the Crafty-Embelies shop. Fingers crossed.

 As I've used my favourite bleached spot background on my tag I'm also entering this tag in Simon Says Stamp and Show Your Favourite Technique.

The tag is inked in my two fave colours and then given the splodgy bleached spot treatment, and then, using Coffee  Adirondack Ink I stamped the blueprint and bicycle ad from Tim's Steampunk set as my background, plus I stamped the blueprint on a bit of tracing paper and wrapped this round the left side if my tag. Next I got out what I think is the first stamp I ever bought, It's Face Art by Wendy Vecchi and stamped the woman's face which is coloured with tattered rose DI applied with a water brush and Broken China and Barn Door Distress Markers.

My Steampunk lady's hair  (or is it her brain sort of spilling out?) is made from an assortment of Ideology gears and sprockets, plus an old watch  mechanism. The wings are from the Steampunk paper that Graphic 45 did a couple of years ago, and I have glued on a light bulb with some multi medium.

 To finish off there are a couple of Ideology flowers, one with a little gear in the centre and the other with a Prima pebble.  

Now I'm going to sit out in the garden with a cool drink, and my laptop and have a little wander around blogland, which is something I haven't done much of recently I'm afraid.

A Bit of a Whitewash.

This weeks Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge (Number 18) at Studio L3 is to do some whitewashing. For full details about how to do this you will need Tim Holtz's book and turn to page 47.  This weeks challenge is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique who are offering a lovely $25 gift certificate as a prize for one lucky person.

What to do?
Well, yesterday I was looking at some photos with my stepdaughter and granddaughter of the fantastic girly holiday we had in New York last autumn so I decided to use a stamp that I bought because I think it looks great, but had somehow not got round to using, namely the big street names stamp from the Remnants set, and to make a tag to go in my travel journal.
Following the instructions on page 47 I  stamped and inked a tag using Pickett Fence Distress Stain, and Iced Spruce, Peacock Feathers and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks, And then a spare bit of card was inked with Chipped Sapphire D I for the hotel label which I have embossed in gold using a stamp from Travel Labels. The plane (from the Air Travel set) is stamped in black Archival Ink.

The Empire State Building and post mark image are from some very old paper from my stash that is torn and inked on the edges. and I've used some film strip and tiny staples to finish off my tag.

PS. Imogen, my granddaughter has decided that we need to go to New York again as we had such an amazing time, I'd better start saving!

A Little Diva

It is such a long time since I made an ATC, and I don't know why, because I love making those teeny tiny little things, and I have got such a good excuse to stay indoors and make something as we are having a great big thunder storm here  this morning.
This weeks task set by Linda at Studio L3 for the Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge is Creative Core'dinations, full details of which can be found on page 61 of Tim's book.  It's really quick and simple, but don't rub too hard! Anyway I've used this technique as a background for my ATC.

I wish I could take decent pictures of my two lovely kitties, but one, they don't stay still for long enough, and two, Tilly (Princess Matilda Tanglepaws) has got a really dark brown face now she's all grown up, so she never seems to come out in focus. But she really is a diva of the first order.

So I've used a sweet little kitty image from Artchix, and some other images that were in my big box of bits that might come in useful one day, plus some German scrap wings, and a few little blingy bits on my little diva's hat. All the paper bits are inked on the edges with Walnut Stain DI which is the colour that I've used on the background as well

This weeks CCC2 challenge is sponsored by Simon Says Stamp who are offering a $25 gift certifcate to one lucky person.

The Three P's

Patterns and Perfect Pearls Mist.

Where is the summer going, I can't believe it's a month since I have got inky and gluey! I partly blame the Olympics, because each time I think I might go and have a little play there seems to be another medal about to be won, and I can't miss that can I?  But it's true to say that my mojo has definitely been on it's summer holidays.

I know it's Wednesday, but I was flitting through blogland and had an idea that I could combine this weeks Sunday Stamper challenge which is Patterns, with the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge  (number 16) over at Studio L3 this week which is to get out those Perfect Pearls Mists as seen on page 54 of the CCC 2, written by Mr Tim Holtz.

After shuffling stuff around for a while I decided to use a little 6 x 6 canvas, and be completely literal with the patterns theme as in sewing. So out came the Haberdashery stamps, and Sewing Room die.

I started by using multi-medium to glue some scrunched up sewing pattern tissue to my canvas, and then applied a tiny bit of Titan Buff acrylic paint with a credit card, inked the edges and wrinkled tissue with Walnut Stain DI, the edges of the canvas are painted in Burnt Umber, and then have a tiny amount of Inka Gold rubbed on , plus some flourish stamping in gold on the sides and front of the canvas.

The tailors dummy is cut from Grunge paper and Claudine Helmuth  sticky backed canvas, inked with Walnut Stain DI and very lightly stamped with some gold flourishes., the ribbonn round the waist is coloured with Wild Honey Distress Stain and sprayed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist. 

Next was the little pocket cut from the Scallop On The Edge die, coloured with Broken China DI, and sprayed with Turquoise Perfect Pearls Mist, then using the Haberdashery stamp and Black Archival Ink I stamped the pattern alteration instructions.

To finish off there are various bits and bobs of Ideology and Prima flowers.

Recycling Day

Actually it is recycling day today, but as I was rummaging around in the garage for something that at the time was really important I got a bit sidetracked, and found a box of text books from days of yore.  Well they were just screaming out to be given a second chance in life, so I now have a nice supply of books to use for journals.

I think it is pretty unlikely that I will ever read what was a rather dry volume in the first place about the Roman Republic again, but it is going to have a new life as a journal for me to put stuff in that makes me happy.  I'm really bad at making covers for my journals, so thought that I'd have a change and make the front cover first, using some of my favourite summery colours of turquoise and green.

Having collected various bits of paper and images I messed about for a bit before deciding that I should just get on and Mod Podge everything down. If you peer very closely you can see a little cat peeping out of a window, I had to put this in because it looks just like one of my beloved moggies.

Next I added some Titan Buff fluid acrylic paint using a credit card and then a baby wipe, to soften all the images, and added some colour around the collage elements using Neocolor watersoluble crayons.

As this journal is going to be for happy stuff, and I love butterflies, I used a fantastic stamp by Christy Tomlinson for UnityStamps as a focus for the cover.

Then a bit more doodling with Neocolor crayons and Faber Castell Pitt pens, and some Liquitex acrylic ink drippage, and I thought I'd stop for the moment, though I suspect that I may do a bit more fiddling before I'm through.

I've got quite a few ideas about what I'm going to put in here. Stuff that reflects happy memories, places and times, lovely people in my life, and bits about music, art and literature that have personal and special meaning for me. Some of it will be for sharing and some will be too personal. Actually the next bit is a bit personal and I've deleted it four times, but finally decided to leave it in.

This is about coming out of the fog I've been wandering around in since my husband, David, passed away, nearly two years ago.  The past few weeks have been so much easier and it's so great to wake up and look forward to what the day has to bring.

A Curious Configuration

Normally at this time of year I get a bit of a guilt complex about lurking in my little room of stash, but, as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, so I had an enjoyable crafting day here in rain lashed Wiltshire yesterday. And it's the same today, so the Pimm's Party that I'm going to this afternoon (this actually is a fancy name for a group of us sitting round the telly and watching the Ladies Singles Final at Wimbledon) will not be a very summery affair, although doubt we will still enjoy the Pimm's.

Having been lucky enough to go to one of Tim Holtz's amazing workshops last year I have got a Configurations box that I made then, and, as you do, then bought three more boxes, which have stayed in their packaging until now.   Here's the box I made last year.

I had always intended to make a Christmas one, but just never got around to it. So a huge thank you to Linda at Studio L3 for giving me the push I needed to actually make one with Challenge Number 11 and 12, which, by the way, has a fantastic prize that has been donated by Mario.
I decided to use the medium size Configuration Box, and having found it at the back of a cupboard, turned to pages 33 and 34 of The Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2, where you will find some very clear instructions for this project.  Now having re-read them the instructions are very clear, but for some reason it took me several false starts before I got the paper measuring thing right, but eventually the penny dropped!
My box of Christmas stuff came out, and I put a little heap of things I thought I might want to use on my desk.  And I had made one of those lovely little paper rosette Christmas trees that Tim showed on his blog last year, so I thought this might have pride of place in my box, because it is just so cute.

The box is covered with papers from Tim's Seasonal Paper Stash, and I've used the Christmassy tissue tape for the edges.  Walnut Stain DI has been used to give a slightly used look to the box, and as you can see there are various bits of Ideology, plus some other little Christmas things, some of which are cake decorations. These are the perfect size for a Configuration Box and often seem to have that lovely slightly kitsch retro 50's look.  I also made some little pine cones using my Tattered Pinecones die, and the Ideology wreath at the top is coloured with Alcohol Inks.
Here's the finished box. I think it will look quite good in my front window when Christmas comes around.

Now it's off to the kitchen as I'm contributing some mini goats cheese, leek and red pepper quiches to this afternoons gathering, so I better get busy.

By The Skin Of My Teeth

Talk about last minute, but I have been away on my holidays, to La Belle France, which apart from a couple of days was very windswept and stormy. That said, Brittany is beautiful whatever the weather, and I had a great time relaxing, walking and eating lots of lovely seafood (and of course drinking some rather splendid wine). I told myself that I deserved that after the roughest crossing ever on Brittany Ferries from Plymouth to Roscoff, even the crew were being seasick!

                                      

 Here is the Pointe du Raz (I think this is the French Lands End) very appropriate as we were in Finisterre.
                                                          
 The street sign is one I saw in the old walled town at Concarneau. There is something that I can't resist about flowers growing out of walls.      
                                                 

Anyway, now I'm home should I do the washing or get a little art fix? No contest really.
I'm so glad Linda has extended the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge No.10 at Studio L3  for an extra week, and I'm still just squeaking in.  As you know this is THE challenge for celebrating all things Tim Holtz, but you do need his book Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2 to find full details of all the techniques he uses.
This weeks challenge is to make tissue paper flowers as shown on page 37.  The challenge this week is sponsored by The Funkie Junkie's Boutique

I decided to make a canvas (8" x 10") and having collaged a few bits of patterned paper and painted with Golden Fluid Acrylics in Cobalt Teal and Sap Green I did a bit of stamping using Christy Tomlinson stamps from Unity, and some messy spraying with stencils and Dylusions inks.

The stems and leaves are garden twine, and I forgot to say that I added some bits of canvas tape to the canvas for extra texture. This little canvas is a version of one that I made earlier this year as part of Donna Downey's Canvas Create on-line class.
Now I need to go and catch up with all the fab stuff I've missed in blogland over the last couple of weeks.

Recycled Butterflies

Where have the last few weeks gone? I am ashamed to say that I've missed two CC2 challenges, but have kind of had a bit of a blank spell with all my inky bits and bobs.Having only managed to get as far as day 4 of Creative Chemistry so far, I thought that I could combine one of my tags from that, with this weeks challenge over at Studio L3 so wonderfully hosted by Linda.
Our remit this week is to follow the technique on page 62 of The Compendium of Curiosities Vol. 2, by Tim Holtz.
So here is my tag, combining both the techniques that Tim shows us.

I have recycled some plastic packaging to completely cover my custom stamp pad butterfly tag.

For some reason the embossing didn't take on that slightly frosted look that usually happens, perhaps it's because its incredibly humid today in a rather grey and slightly damp Wiltshire.  Still that is not going to affect  the Jubilee celebrations over the weekend, but I've got a feeling that by the time I reach Tuesday I probably will not want to see another trifle, scone or Victoria sponge for many months!
PS Have you seen Tims June tag?  It is absolutely up my street. LOVE IT.

Seasons Greetings.

Please don't think I have completely lost the plot, but for some reason I just felt like making something with a Christmas theme today. Perhaps that little thought that I have each year that I'll make my own cards has surfaced, but I'm sure it won't last for long.

Over at the lovely Linda Ledbetters blog Studio L3 this weeks CC2 challenge is Shattered Stains. To get the full details on how to do this you will need to look at page 48 of Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2.

Now I'm not really sure I got this quite right, because my tree has ended up looking remarkably like a Savoy cabbage leaf! Still I quite like that sort of organic look. 

      

For some reason my photos make it look as though my tree is still grungepaper grey, in real life it does look green (Peeled Paint and Stormy Weather Distress Stains), honest it does.  My tag is inked with Iced Spruce, Evergreen Bough and Faded Jeans, and the tree and pinecones have been edged with Snow Cap White paint dabber, some multi-medium and  then I got my glitter out. I have to admit that felt just plain wrong in the middle of May.

Anyway, please go and have a look at all the lovely creations on Linda's blog, which has been sponsored by Simon Says Stamp this week who are going to send a $25 gift certificate to one lucky person.

Some Faded Layers

The technique over at The Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge this week is not one that I had tried before, and I really like it.  To get the full details of what you need to do you will need to look at page 43 of Mr Tim Holtz's lovely new volume of inspiration.
I do not have many masks (one actually) and as you can see it's the one with the clock and gears.  My new Spring Distress Inks came through the letterbox on Friday, and now I've finished my night shifts I can get them out and play. I wasn't too sure about them at first, but I think they are definitely growing on me.
Here's a picture of my tag before I put anything on it, just because I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.

The background stamps are from the Steampunk and Remnants  sets by Tim.

Next I must thank Hels Sheridan for the dimensional balloon idea, which I learned at her fabby workshop at the Stamp Attic a couple of weeks ago. The main balloon is also from Tim's remnants set, and the small balloon and the words are from a set by Artistic Outpost.

I made a tiny ruffle for the words at the bottom of the tag and attached this with some bits of Ideology. The ribbon is stained with the new Squeezed Lemon and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, and I decided to stop there, because this is quite a busy tag.

And now I'm off to have a look at all the lovely creations over at Studio L3.
I really love this balloon stamp so I am also entering my tag in the Simon Says Stamp and Show Your Favorite Stamp this week

Marbled Sky

The Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge (Number 3) that Linda has set us this week over at Studio L3  is to use the technique that can be found on page 46 of Tim Holtz's new book.

I love that I never know quite what I'm going to get with this technique.

So following the instructions I coloured my tag using Pickett Fence, Broken China , Stormy Sky and Weathered Wood Distress Stains, and  with really no idea of what I was going to do with it.  Anyway, in the end I have ended up with a flowery, birdy type tag.

I cut a mini bird and cage with a Movers and Shapers die and some little branches from the Autumn Gatherings strip die.  The roses are made from the Pinecone die  inked on the edge with Walnut Stain DI.

The leaves at top and bottom are some ribbon trim , and I have used one of those new Wordbands that has been painted with pale blue acrylic paint which has then been wiped off to highlight the words.

Finally to finish off I've used Stormy Weather Distress Stain to colour the ribbon, and added some extra bits of Ideology

PS. This weeks challenge is sponsored by Eclectic Paperie who will be sending one lucky person a gift voucher.

Patina Time

Having finally managed to get round to purchasing the fabulous Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2, by Mr Tim Holtz, I can now have a go at some Faux Patination.  The lovely Linda over at Studio L3 has asked us to create a little something using this technique for the Compendium of Curiosities Vol 2 challenge number 2.  You should really go and have a look, as there is some really stunning artwork there.
For full details of how to create this lovely antique look  you will need to peek at page 58 of the Compendium (Vol 2).

I wasn't quite sure where I was going with this technique, but it's so easy and gives a lovely effect on metal and glossy card. How lucky am I that my supplies of Alcohol Ink are mostly blues and greens, though I did have to buy some Snow Cap Mixative.

As you can see I've used a Wendy Vecchi Art Part watch, that is covered with paper, sanded, inked, and the watch frame is stamped with a flourish stamp in gold. I have aged an Ideology watch face, and added some little watch parts as well.  I don't think I've finished with this watch yet and might add it to an overloaded tag.

Two Hearts

Having had such a great time with Donna Downey a couple of weeks ago, I am now obsessed with hearts and Pan Pastels.  Plus I have made myself a new art journal, and for someone who has a pathological fear of sewing machines (which stems from a needlework class when I was about 11 when I sewed my finger to some material, and got told off by the truly unpleasant teacher for breaking the needle), I feel quite proud of my achievement.
Here is a page which I made today.

I covered my page with some vintage French script, and then applied a sheet of scrunched up tissue with matt medium.  After this dried I used a homemade stencil and my Pan Pastels to make the heart images, sprayed with fixative and then coloured the background.
The stamps are a mixture of Tim Holtz and Wendy Vechhi, and its all stamped using black Stazon.
The bus tickets are stamped onto manilla card and then fixed with tiny staples.
Hels theme this week over at The Sunday Stamper is numbers, and it's the 200th Sunday Stamper, so a big thank you to Hels for giving us a lovely dose of inspiration each week. To celebrate she has some fantastic blog candy, so pop over to her blog to have a look and perhaps enter the challenge.

Before I go here's a picture of my journal, that I made all by myself. I bet that needlework teacher would be quite surprised!

And now I really should go and make a start on the veggies for tonights dinner, yummy Welsh lamb.

I'm Seeing Things

Well I thought I must be when I popped over to see what lovely creation Tim had designed for his April tag.  I had to check about ten times, but yes that really is my name there in the list of prizewinners for March.
Woo Hoo!!!
Now I 'm off to email Mario.
It's a good start to the week.

The Custard Factory

I have been meaning to write this post all week, but somehow  just didn't get round to it.
Last Sunday I had a fantastic time at the Custard Factory in Birmingham, where I was lucky to attend wonderful workshop by Donna Downey whose work I love.
It was a really small group so we all got a chance to chat and ask Donna loads of question.  She was really inspiring.
I made two canvases on the day and brought another home to finish.First up is my Pan Pastel creation. I am truly hooked on these little jewel like lovelies now.

Next my mixed media canvas (18''x6''). Lots of gesso, modelling paste, acrylic paint and different collage elements. This was such fun to make, and very messy.

I can't wait for Donna to come back next year. It was such a brilliant learning experience for me.

On a Journey

I haven't made a tag for ages so as I don't start work until 1pm today I thought I'd while away the morning getting inky. The Sunday Stamper theme this week is On The Road, so that's where I've gone. After a little rummage through my stash, the completely random thought of Ernest Hemingway popped into my brain, so I thought about him on his travels, and made my tag up as I went along.

My tag is made from Kraft resist paper that is inked with Rusty Hinge and Vintage Photo DI's, and the stamps are Tim's Stuff to Say and also some by 7 Gypsies.  The  man who actually doesn't look anything like Ernest is from my new Destinations paper stash (LOVE IT), but I do think it's the right era. I'm not sure if Ernie ever made it to India but I liked the Mount Everest Hotel salvage sticker that is tucked behind the mini camera film. I had to unroll bout 18'' of tissue tape before I got to the right bit with the journey definition on it, but have carefully re-rolled the bit I didn't use back on to the roll.

To finish off I've used some bits of Ideology from my stash.